


Editorial Review

by Ultra



Category: Press Gang
Genre: Awards Presentation, Character Study, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Inspirational Speeches, Normal Life, References to Canon, Retrospective, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 10:43:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16638413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Lynda Day has recently turned 50 and her life so far has been quite the journey.





	Editorial Review

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kattahj](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattahj/gifts).



> kattahj - Hopefully this is something like what you were thinking of when you made the request. I only ever wrote for this fandom once before but I was glad of the excuse to do so again :)

“Well, here we all are. Congratulations, Lynda Day, you reached your peak and it only took you fifty years. Yes, I am that old. That’s quite a milestone, I suppose. Maybe not for most people, but as anyone who knows me will tell you, I do have quite the habit of getting myself into situations that most people don’t get out of.

“It’s funny really, I never doubted I was meant for great things, a successful career, the exact life that I wanted. From the age of sixteen, maybe even before then, I told myself there was nothing I couldn’t do, nothing I wouldn’t achieve. These days that seems fairly standard. All young people are encouraged to be what they want and do what they want, never mind what the societal norm is, no matter what anyone else thinks about it. I suppose you could say I was ahead of my time. Funny, I feel as if my time is passing a bit too fast these days.

“Not that I can’t keep up, I think I’ve proven myself capable. I would hardly be here with an award in my hand if I wasn’t, now would I? The world has changed though, and as much as some people might tell you it’s not true, I have changed with it. I started out writing newspaper articles on a manual typewriter. That’s the sort that doesn’t plug in, in case you were wondering.

“After a while I had a portable phone that only made calls and nothing else. Over the years, I had to learn texting and email and the internet. All wonderful tools, but for the technologically-stunted, it’s not always easy. As you may have guessed, I found my way around well enough, with a bit of help here and there. They say you have to evolve or die. Well, I never did go down without a fight.

“The news in print is becoming old hat, but the news itself still matters. Online publications are the way forward, blogs and vlogs and other things with pointless acronyms and strange names that I’ll never fully understand or appreciate. What matters to me is the stories, same as it always has. Get the facts straight, write the story well, and you can’t go wrong. You can’t deny I’ve proved that in my time, and I’ve helped a whole new generation, maybe even two, to follow in my footsteps. You have to admit, no-one was better qualified.

“Of course, knowing how to do your job well is only half the battle. Knowing how to live your life well, that can sometimes be the tougher ask. Not that I have any regrets. My fifty years have been interesting, for all their ups and downs, and if I get a shot at fifty more, so much the better.

“The point is even if I could go back and change the way things went for me, I wouldn’t. Everything that has happened in my life, every choice I’ve made, every good thing, every bad thing, it’s all made me who I am today. That’s true for every one of you as well. You get into scrapes, you make the wrong decision, so what? Learn from it, don’t do it again, but never regret. You do that and you just prove that you don’t like yourself very much. I don’t have that problem. Well, not anymore.

“My self-doubt was burnt out of me. I looked death right in the eye, when I was twenty-one. If you’ve read my book - and let’s face it, why are you here if you haven’t? - then you know the story. Looking back at everything I’d done up to that point, I weighed up what kind of person I was, with who I wanted to be. I made a choice about what I deserved. I made a choice whether to live or to die, and here I am to tell the tale.

“Of course, it affected me, in more ways than even I probably realised. To this day, the sight of flames does nothing for me. At my age, there’s an obvious joke to be made about burning the house down with the number of candles on my birthday cake, but no-one dares to say that kind of thing to me. Pretty amazing when you consider I married the king of obvious jokes, and divorced him, and married him again. Sometimes I think the biggest joke is on him. After all, he’s been putting up with me, on and off, for more than thirty years. If we were anybody else, you’d have to wonder how bright we really were, but nobody ever said people of intelligence have to use their brains all of the time. I won’t bore you with the details. Like I said, you should have read the book, it’s all there, and I have no regrets on that either.

"So, I think that covers just about everything. I’m sure most of you stopped listening before I even got this far. After all, you Millennials do seem to have an attention span no longer than thirty seconds, but for those who are still with me, one final word of advice; if you meet a crocodile, don’t put your head in it’s mouth. Thank you.”

Lynda Day stepped down from the podium to rapturous applause and a standing ovation from more than one part of the audience. She smiled but was mostly embarrassed as she hurried out of sight, finding her husband waiting for her off to the side of the stage.

“Well, how was I?” she asked, finally feeling able to breathe properly now that was over.

For all that she exuded confidence, Lynda had never been a great public speaker outside of the news room. That was one of many things about her that hadn’t changed.

“Not bad.”

“Not bad? Do you want a second divorce, Thomson?”

“Only if you promise me a real nice third wedding.” Spike grinned at her. “Hey, we could elope this time, we didn’t try that yet.”

Lynda laughed, she couldn’t help it, as he pulled her closer and kissed her lips.

“So, what’s the second opinion from the more intelligent of the men in my life?” she asked her son as they parted.

“You were amazing, Mum,” he assured her. “I knew you would be”

“Thanks, Jasper.” Lynda smiled at him, glad of the hug he gave her. “Good of you to be here. It’s more than your sister could manage.”

“She tried, Lynda,” Spike reminded her. “Don’t worry, she saw the whole thing online and sent a lot of heart emojis while she was watching.”

He showed her the display on his smart phone and she sighed, rolling her eyes.

“I still don’t understand why people can’t use words!” she complained as they walked out of the hall together. “Especially Sullivan, because I know she’s fully capable! Text speak was bad enough but all those pictures, it’s like going back to Ancient Egypt or something.”

Spike and Jasper shared a look but said nothing, they both knew better than to interrupt when Lynda was mid-rant.

“I mean it’s so lazy, isn’t it? No wonder kids can’t spell these days. It’s only going to get harder to employ articulate writers with them all growing up thinking there’s nothing that can’t be expressed with a smiley face and an animated kitten!” she complained, as Spike helped her into her coat. “I only have one of these phones because I don’t get a choice and-” She stopped short as the phone she spoke of slipped from her pocket and hit the floor face-down. “Damn.”

“Magazine.”

Lynda turned so fast at the sound of that word, she almost hit Spike in the face when he tried to retrieve her phone. Lynda barely noticed.

“Sarah?”

“Hello, Lynda. It’s been a while.”

“A long while.” Lynda nodded. “What are you doing here?”

“I heard about the award and I was in the area anyway. Seemed like a good time to come and say hi.”

There was an awkward moment when neither knew quite what to say or do and then suddenly they hugged each other, briefly, without ceremony, without comment.

“Good to see you.” Lynda nodded.

“Yeah, you too.”

“No, please, this is all getting way too emotional,” Spike dead-panned. “My God, it’s almost like you two care or something.”

“Shut up, Spike,” said Lynda, like a reflex. “Not everybody has to go to pieces over seeing an old friend. If you remember, I didn’t exactly melt into a puddle of overemotional goo when Kenny visited either.”

“Nice to know some things don’t change,” said Sarah, mostly looking at Spike. “I have to admit, I wasn’t absolutely sure if I was going to find you two still together.”

“Well, it’s been a rocky road, but we never could find anybody we would rather fight with than each other, right, boss?” he said, putting an arm around Lynda’s shoulders and planting a kiss on her cheek.

“What can I say?” she said, shrugging as she glanced at Sarah. “He’s still nice to look at and there’s really no-one else that can keep up with me.”

“Or would _put_ up with you,” Spike pointed out, ducking out of the way a second before her hand connected with his face.

“Looks as much like true love to me as it did when we were sixteen,” Sarah noted.

“I suppose it must be.” Lynda sighed, turning her eyes to meet her husband’s own. “I have married him twice after all.”

“I’d marry you ten times over if it’d make you happy, boss,” he told her easily. “Just don’t ever go changing on me, okay?”

“After all this time,” she said smiling back at him. “I really don’t see that happening, do you? Now, I think it’s time to get out of here. Since we’re celebrating, dinner is on Spike. You coming Sarah? We can compare careers, and given I’ve just been handed an award, I’m guaranteed to win,” she told her, smiling widely.

Nobody was going to argue with her. After all, she was Lynda Day. Who would dare?


End file.
